ADDISON - Singer-pianist Patricia Barber asserted her endearing eccentricity
the moment she stepped on stage at Sambuca Jazz Cafe in Addison on Thursday.
As soon as she sat down at the piano, she took off her shoes and clamped
her bare feet over the foot pedals.

This was only the first step toward making herself at home. Joining her
three-piece band, she tossed off a few notes on the piano, while smiling
out at her audience. But the comfort level still wasn't there. As the
quartet continued to play, she signaled for a change in bench. The one
she had wasn't wide enough. Someone came up and substituted a wider
bench. No star attitude on Ms. Barber's part, as she stepped right in
to move the new bench into place.

Now, things began to click. She bent over the keys as she played, facing
the audience, her arms all akimbo, humming along to her playing, lifting
her leg for emphasis, and every so often calling out an incoherent "Eppp!"
in response to a killer solo from the band. She cut a cool figure: tall
and thin, all in black, and wearing a black beret.

What a crazy, refreshing performance. The fact that Ms. Barber travels
in the genre of jazz, plays piano and sings makes for automatic comparisons
to Diana Krall. But Ms. Barber is kooky-cool and post-modern, in a 21st-century
kind of way, rather than the loungey-retro profile of Ms. Krall.

The daughter of a saxophonist who played with Glenn Miller, Ms. Barber
goes beyond the usual covering of standards, writing her own material
as well as giving odd pop material a new twist. She's put out a half
dozen records and has honed her performing skills with weekly gigs at
Chicago clubs such as the Green Mill Lounge.

At Sambuca, she and her band - drummer Eric Montzca, saxophonist Jim Galloreto
and stand-up bass player Mike Arnopol - exchanged solos and moods, trading
spells of precision with fluidity. She'd bang away at the piano, hitting
a single note until she'd wrung every drop. Her hands moved like crab
claws over the keys; every so often, she'd wipe the moisture onto her
legs. Behind her, the band spun out riffs in swirls you could almost
see curling in the air.

And then, right in the middle of her singing, she'd bend back and adjust
her posture, going for a little stretch in between the shoulder blades
- a merger of precision and informality, almost too smart for its own
good.